Chapter 184: From Infiltration to Passing Through (2/2)

“No good! Get away!”

At Jack’s warning, everyone scattered to avoid the spider carcass, but it was so big that it couldn’t be avoided by just moving some distance. They had no choice but to run. The carcass fell down a moment later and crashed into the wall, crushing the spiderlings and the victim corpses, splattering the white web with blue fluid.

“More are coming!”

Even without Dig’s warning, everyone had already noticed the huge spiders chasing them. There were about ten of them. Whether that number could be considered many or not was still a matter for debate, but just the fact that there were several spiders, multiple times bigger than a human, chasing them – was already incredible. And as such spiders were chasing them, no one had the time to think about anything else.

“Run!”

Loren shouted. He didn’t think they could outrun the spiders that had covered this space with their threads, but there was no other option left. No matter how strong Loren was or how sharp his weapon was, it was impossible for him to fight against ten or more of these huge spiders. So even though he knew it would be useless, he believed they had no other choice but to run as fast as possible.

Yet the spiders didn’t even allow them that. Corpses of the spiders’ victims appeared, blocking their path. Not only were they full of growing spiderlings, they had also been turned into undead. Breaking through the spiders’ thread, they came out one after another.

“Turn Undead!”

“Wait, Lapis!”

Noticing the corpses blocking their way, Lapis immediately used >. Loren wasn’t able to stop her on time, and the corpses were enveloped in a cleansing light and turned into dust. Lapis’ power was probably too strong for them, so the corpses just turned into dust with almost no resistance. Lapis looked proud, but her expression stiffened soon after.

The corpses were undead, so they turned into dust under Lapis’ power. But the spiders inside them weren’t, so of course they didn’t become dust no matter how powerful Lapis was. Big chunks spiderlings now dropped to the ground as the corpses carrying them crumbled away.

“E-eh?”

Running on a ground covered in small spiders caused physical revulsion. But there was no other foothold, so stepping on them they must. It was still easier to move forward like this than breaking through the crowd of undead. Estimating the distance between them and the adult spiders at their back and above their head, Loren scolded Lapis, who had stopped and tilted her head in puzzlement:

“Don’t stop! Crush them under your feet!”

“I-I know! But, they’re popping and squelching under my feet!”

“Bear with it! It’s better than getting bitten by those behind!”

Lapis’ face twitched at the prospect. She continued to run at full power while half-crying because of the sensation she felt through the sole of her shoes. Ritz’ party and Dig didn’t seem to mind at all. They just calmly ran through them. Loren, who was at the end of the line, glanced back and secretly clicked his tongue.

The adult spiders were surely faster than them and they still hadn’t reached the exit yet. The occasionally-appearing victims’ corpses were turned into dust under Lapis’ >, releasing small spiders onto the floor. So they ran, stepping over those spiders. If this continued, the adult spiders would surely catch up to them.

Shayna spoke in Loren’s mind:

[‘Can I do something about them?’]

In response, Loren asked her to exercise Energy Drain on the adult spiders, but to not kill them. Shayna found the ‘not killing them’ a bit questionable, but she thought he might have something in mind and began using Energy Drain on the spiders as he had asked.

“They’re getting slower! They must have started to become tired!”

Ritz noticed a change in the spiders’ speed and said in a tone full of joy. Of course, the spiders’ stamina wouldn’t run out just because of some chasing like this. It was just Shayna’s Energy Drain taking effect. Being sucked of their vitality, the spiders had started to weaken.

[‘Is it alright to not kill them?’]

No matter how big they were, they were just spiders. They couldn’t fight against the King of Death’s Energy Drain, and sucking their vitality dry to kill them was just a piece of cake to Shayna. But there was a reason for Loren to not ask her to do so.

It would be very strange if the spiders that were chasing them suddenly dropped dead, and Ritz’ group would surely question it. That was the problem. Ritz’ party probably wouldn’t suddenly associate them with such a strange phenomenon, but Loren believed it was best to not raise unnecessary doubts.

Another reason was, those who were killed by the King of Death’s Energy Drain might become undead. Whether spiders could become undead or not was still a question, yet it would be creepy if they could.

[‘But they’ll be under my control in that case, won’t they? I think we won’t need to worry about that?’]

It would also be strange if the spiders just become undead all of a sudden. To make it worse, if they suddenly ceased attacking after becoming undead, everyone would notice that something had happened.

Loren sent Shayna a heartfelt thank you while watching the unmoving spiders, and she told him with a smile:

[‘What a hassle… But it’s fine as long as I can help you, onii-san.’]